Most of the time, you have the option to submit your photos as exclusive (you’ll only submit photos to one agency) or nonexclusive.

Agencies will not accept images that have logos/movie characters anywhere in the picture.

Before submitting your image, view it at 100-percent size on your monitor. If it’s not sharp at that size, it will be rejected.

Using Photoshop or other image processing programs is fair game.

Have a model release for all recognizable people in your image. Few websites accepts editorial-use photos—photos without a release—for street scenes, celebrities, news, and cultural events.

Pay-per-shot varies because some people pay for photos on subscription plans. (They get a certain amount of photos per a time period at a set price.)

Pay-per-shot usually depends on the size of the photo downloaded.

Different sites have different requirements for you to be able to submit your images. Shutterstock is one of the strictest. You have to get 10 photos approved before they’ll accept you. At Fotolia, there are no approvals needed to get started.

All stock photo sites offer more commission for exclusive use of your photos.